"Fact" is one of the key recurring words in the novel. Conrad's premise
is that facts actually do mean nothing in themselves, but acquire meaning only
through their interpretation by various subjective dream-ideals. (See .)
This is the first of many instances in which the word "fact" is used
to describe, not an object, but human influence (in this case, the perceived power
of Ribiera's -- which is a twice-subjective phenomenon).